The Candida Auris yeast that spreads in the United States and Europe does not cause infections in basically healthy people. There have been three cases in Finland, but they have not made anyone sick.
Yeast fungus Candida Auris can cause serious infections in the body, especially in hospital and institutional patients. Helsingin Sanomat reports in March about the widespread spread of infections caused by it in hospitals and, for example, care facilities for the elderly in the United States. The cases there had doubled during the year.
Disease clusters caused by the same fungus have become more common in Europe in recent years, says an article published by the Finnish Association for the Prevention of Infections. By the end of 2021, there were cases European Agency for Communicable Diseases (ECDC) according to a report by
In Finland, Candida Auris is rare: in 2021 and after, three cases have been identified. None of them have led to further infections.
“One of the cases was found in the hospital district of Helsinki and Uusimaa. All the cases have been related to hospital patients transferred from abroad, and they have been found in screening samples taken at the hospital,” says the infectious disease doctor Mari Ala-Houhala From the Inflammation Center of Helsinki University Hospital.
All are cases where the patient has been found to be a carrier of the yeast in question without clinical infection.
Candida yeast thrives on the skin, usually in the groin or armpit. According to Ala-Houhala, it does not necessarily cause the wearer any symptoms.
In practice, infections caused by Candida fungi do not occur in people who do not have other underlying diseases.
“They are microbes that only cause infections in seriously ill or immunocompromised persons, such as cancer patients or organ transplant patients,” says Ala-Houhala.
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Infections are prevented by disinfecting hands and treatment equipment.
Candida auris a severe general infection can be a symptom of a sawing fever, says Ala-Houhala.
Infections caused by yeasts can be treated with antifungal drugs from three different groups. What makes the Candida Auris infection life-threatening is that there have also been strains found in the world that are resistant to all three groups of antifungal drugs.
Candida Auris infections are prevented by good hospital hygiene, i.e. by disinfecting hands and treatment equipment, and by hospital staff using protective equipment and cleaning surfaces and patient rooms carefully.
Leading expert Jari Jalava The Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) says that the control of Candida Auris yeast fungus is very similar to preventing the spread of hospital bacteria, which are more familiar to many. For example, MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) or VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococcus) also cause hospital epidemics and spread in the same way.
Unlike other fungi, Candida Auris is also able to spread from one patient to another, either directly through the staff’s hands or through surfaces, similar to multi-resistant bacteria. In addition, Candida Auris remains on surfaces for a long time, sometimes up to two weeks.
For the common man for tourists, travel does not increase the risk of contracting the dangerous Candida auris.
According to Jalava, the biggest risk of getting a serious yeast infection is if you have to be hospitalized abroad for a long time. In Europe, for example, Spain and Britain have had Candida Auris epidemics.
“You can’t get infected with a short visit to the clinic. And not as a tourist in a hotel, on the beach, in a bar or sightseeing,” says Jalava.
Ala-Houhala confirms that in order to get a serious Candida Auris infection, it is usually necessary to get sick with some other disease that weakens the patient’s own immunity. Longer hospitalization abroad exposes you to Candida Auris infection. Foreign objects used in hospital treatment, such as vascular catheters or ventilator therapy, increase the risk of infection.
According to both Jalava and Ala-Houhala, the increase in Candida Auris infections in hospitals is worrying and the situation must be monitored and attention must be paid to prevention.
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The pandemic period may have increased the risk that multidrug-resistant microbes were able to spread.
“The situation in Finland has been calm so far, but we also have to be vigilant,” says Ala-Houhala.
According to Jalava, ECDC already pointed out the matter a few years ago. In Finland, THL also reminded hospitals about this in 2018 and published new instructions in 2020 of infection control by multi-resistant microbes.
OF incidents the rapid increase in numbers and geographical spread are worrying and emphasize the need for screening, says Ala-Houhala. According to him, the fact that more samples are taken all the time also increases the number of findings.
According to him, the pandemic period could also increase the risk that multi-resistant microbes were able to spread, when in many countries there were more patients to be treated in intensive care units than usual.
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